Fantasy Boy
by Mochi Dragon
Summary: Sakura's relationship wasn't really going the way she wanted it to, so she decided to try out a dating simulation game just for the heck of it. Full summary inside. NaruSaku
1. First Meeting

Author: Mochi Dragon

Title: Fantasy Boy

Pairing: Naruto x Sakura

Rating: PG-13 or T

Genre: Romance/Tragedy

Disclaimer: It's quite obvious; I don't own Naruto.

Summary: Sakura's relationship wasn't really going the way she wanted it to, so she decided to try out a dating simulation game just for the heck of it. But in the end, she learns that it's possible for a human to fall in love with even data and pixels, and suffers for it. (NaruSaku)

Chapter 1: First Meeting

----------

"Whatever!"

Sakura slammed the front door of her apartment closed.

It was evening, and she had just gotten back from her date with her boyfriend, Sasuke, and she was really pissed off. It wasn't that she didn't love him; in fact, she did. It was just that…he was really cold to her, even to her, and it made her wonder if he really loved her or if he only dated her to get his fangirls to leave him alone.

In other words, she felt like she was just a convenience, like he was only dating her because she was convenient.

And she hated that.

After a year of dating Sasuke, she learned that good looks weren't everything. It was a big plus definitely, but it wasn't everything.

He really needed a new personality; that is, of course, if he ever had one to begin with.

Sighing, Sakura poured herself a cold glass of iced tea, sliced a lemon, stuck a piece of it on the rim of her glass, sat on her sofa, and turned on her TV. She flipped channels until she reached the evening news.

"And in today's news, a pair of researchers has designed a virtual reality device targeted for both men and women. Dr. Tsunade and Dr. Shizune, could you please tell us and our viewers about how this device works?"

"Yes, this device is basically a dating simulation virtual reality game. By hooking up a person to the machine, the machine will pick up the person's brain wave patterns and use that person's patterns to determine the type of guy or girl right for that person. Then it will transport that person's mind to a virtual reality world where that person can meet and spend time with that guy or girl," replied Tsunade.

The reporter put on a look of wonder and amazement.

"Interesting, does this device have a name?"

"Not yet," Dr. Tsunade said sheepishly, "I did come up with a few names, but Shizune insisted that they were cheesy."

"Such as?" the reporter asked raising an eyebrow.

"They're too awful to mention on local TV, sorry," Shizune quickly spoke before Tsunade could even open her mouth.

"It's fine, and what are your plans for this device?"

"We will give a tour of our new device at our research facility. Anyone who wants to come and try out our device is more than welcome to," said Tsunade.

Sakura was amazed. This seemed like a good opportunity to find out what type of guy was right for her. Sakura had always liked love fortunes, the zodiac and the like, so she found this to be quite interesting.

She did already have a boyfriend. She knew that. But because it was just pixels and data and not a real person she would be meeting, she felt it was okay.

"Here is the address to the research facility. All viewers who would like a tour are recommended to write it down."

Wasting no time, Sakura grabbed her notepad and wrote the address down.

"Besides," she thought, "it's only a game. There's no harm in a silly game."

Or so she thought.

----------

The next day at the research facility, Sakura was there bright and early.

The research facility wasn't a very large place, but it was rather clean and about two stories high. After the entrance was a seating area, then there was a long hallway connected to that; a fight stairs was right next to it.

"Well, looks like you're the first one here."

Sakura turned to her right and saw Shizune.

"Hi, my name is Haruno Sakura. I'm here for a tour of your new device."

"Huh? Oh sure. I'm Dr. Shizune, by the way. You can just call me Shizune. I never got used to the whole doctor thing anyway," Shizune then pointed to the stairway, "Come this way to the basement."

Sakura followed her down the stairs. Shizune pulled out her ID card and swiped it in the card reader next to the basement door. The door beeped and the light that was once red turned green. Shizune pulled open the door.

"Step in."

"Okay."

Taking a deep breath, Sakura walked through the door.

Stepping in, Sakura saw a seat and a helmet with a bunch of wires connected to it.

"Would you like to try it?" Shizune asked smiling slightly, "you could meet your dream guy."

Sakura blushed.

"Erm, yes, I would like to try the device."

Shizune led Sakura to the seat.

"Okay, sit right here and put that helmet on."

Sakura sat in the seat and put the helmet over her pink hair.

"Now just relax. The machine will analyze your brain wave patterns, create a person, and then send you to a virtual reality based city where you can meet and hang around with that person. Have fun!"

The machine beeped, and Sakura's world went black.

----------

Opening her eyes groggily, Sakura could've sworn she was seeing an odd yellow, orange blur.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"

Where was she? She wondered idly while trying to clear her vision and her head.

Until it hit her.

Sakura-chan?

What the heck?

----------

After spending a good year away from writing, it feels kind of weird to be trying again. I was never good writer, but I felt that if I just gave up now, I'd never get better, so I decided to write as much as I could. I'll improve; I know I will.

Anyway, despite everything, I hope you liked my story idea so far. I won't demand reviews, but it would be nice if I got some comments or opinions to help me out, so please review if you can. I don't mind if you leave a flame, but please when you do, at least give me your opinion about why you disliked the story instead of just leaving crude hate messages.

Just a side note: I decided not to just honorifics because I don't really know how to use them properly. I kept Naruto calling Sakura, 'Sakura-chan' because Naruto just doesn't seem like himself without it.

Thank you for reading!

- Mochi Dragon


	2. Hey, Sakura chan!

Disclaimer: Read Chapter 1; it's there.

Fantasy Boy

Chapter 2: Hey, Sakura-chan!

----------

Sakura was shocked.

To say she was shocked was an understatement actually.

She was very, very shocked.

Right there in front of her was the cutest boy she'd ever seen (with the exception being Sasuke, but he was more handsome and good-looking rather than boyishly cute).

Now if only she could stop gaping.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto waved his hand in front of her face.

Snapping back to reality, Sakura managed to close her mouth and say something coherent.

"Uh, who are you?"

Naruto laughed and slipped his hand behind his head.

"Oh that's right, I forgot to tell you; I'm Naruto."

He then smiled and grabbed her hand.

"So anyway, let's go Sakura-chan!"

"Wh-what? Go where? Hey! Let go!"

Sakura struggled to get her hand out of his grip but couldn't. Sighing, she gave up and let him drag her to wherever it was he was going to take her to.

----------

"Eh!"

Sakura was at, bet you'd never guess where…a café.

And not just any ordinary café either, it was the loveliest little corner shop she'd ever seen. With beautiful cream colored walls and decorative tiles on the floor and on the lower half of the walls, there was a pleasing aroma of coffee and tea and cakes in the air.

"Naruto, why did you bring me here?"

"Because we're on a date Sakura-chan, and I thought you might like it here."

"A date?"

Sakura mentally smacked her forehead.

Of course he thought he should take her somewhere on a date, she was in a dating simulation game! Jeez, what was wrong with her?

Well, it was just a game right? Might as well enjoy herself while she was at it.

"Of course, a date! Now, let's go order something!"

And Naruto took her hand again.

Sakura smiled at the energetic boy and let herself get dragged yet again to the ordering counter.

----------

Sakura lay on her bed in her bedroom, thinking the events that had passed.

The date was fun, and Sakura didn't think she'd ever had such a simple, comfortable date before. The only dates she had ever been on were always uncomfortable and awkward, and usually she was the only one talking and her boyfriend was just grunting like he was bored. She liked the fact that for once a guy tried to please her instead of having it the other way around as it usually was. It was just like in her silly childhood dreams.

She smiled as she thought of Naruto.

She swore she could still see his clear blue eyes watering slightly and his mouth pressed into an adorable pout from the time when they had to part ways after their date, and her mind was sent back to reality.

When she got back, Shizune smiled slyly and asked if she enjoyed herself.

She did. She really, really did.

And that was what scared her.

Was she supposed to enjoy herself so much when HE wasn't even a real person?

She needed to go out. Yeah, that was it. She just needed to go out, get some fresh air, meet real people and maybe go see her boyfriend.

Yeah…riiiiiight…

----------

So here she was, out in the open, breathing the fresh open air, and…well, just standing in the middle of the sidewalk.

If she was any other normal person, she would be meeting girlfriends at the mall or at a fast food place to chat, shop or gossip.

But the fact was, she wasn't like any other normal person.

Or maybe she just needed to get a life?

Fat chance of that ever happening.

Sakura sighed and started walking. She decided to just window shop for a while. She really didn't feel like seeing Sasuke at the moment. He wouldn't want her to bother him anyway.

As she was stuck in her thoughts, her eye caught a flash of orange.

She started, then whacked her forehead.

_Naruto_

Damnit, why was she thinking about him now!

Sighing yet again (she noticed that she's been sighing a lot lately and wondered if she should see a doctor), she decided to look in the window with the orange thing in it and found that it was a stuffed animal shop. The orange thing she was looking at was a cute little chibi fox with a mischievous look on it face.

That look was reminding her of someone, and she really didn't want to say who.

But it was really cute, and she felt that she just had to go in the shop and buy it, and that was what she did.

She went home after that with a smile on her face and that little fox plushie snuggled tightly in her arms.

She really needed to see HIM again, and she decided to go back to the research center first thing in the morning.

----------

Sakura was blushing.

Shizune was staring at her with a look that said "Er, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to use the machine again. I apologize, but I really want to use it again."

Shizune puzzled look changed to a knowing smile.

"Oh all right, we're not giving tours at the moment, but I'm sure just this once will be fine."

Shizune walked towards the stairway.

"Follow me."

Sakura followed.

----------

Sakura once again felt the odd sensation of having her mind transferred from her body, then the dizziness of landing somewhere.

"Sakura-chan!"

No matter what she did, she couldn't stop the smile from appearing on her face. She had to admit she was happy to see him too.

"Hey, Naruto. Let's go again."

Naruto once again gave his usual Naruto-style grin, grabbed her hand and took her to yet another place.

And Sakura at that moment, felt happier than anything.

She decided to forget reality for now.

----------

Review replies:

krn-kimbap: Hm, well, that is a good idea for an ending. But notice that the genre for this fic was Romance/Tragedy? Originally, I had a pretty bittersweet sort of ending planned, but your idea is making me think about the way I should end the fic a bit more. I'll read your fic as soon as I can this weekend, and yes, I'll give my opinion.

Arkhe: Thank you! Don't worry I'll definitely finish this.

Mochi 3ingGirl: I hope you enjoyed this chapter too.

Ichigo -dattebayo: You don't read NaruSaku's? Awww, well to tell you the truth, at first, I didn't even consider the pairing NaruSaku at all. But eventually, after I saw how Naruto really cared for Sakura, I started liking that pairing, now I'm a huge fan.

Dairokkan: Eh heh heh, thank you.

Hououza: Thank you very much!

Hitokiri Jotham: Thank you!

I'm still pretty shaky at this whole fic-writing thing, so I may mess up sometimes. At the moment, the fic may seem pretty light-hearted, but it will get serious later. Feel free to suggest or criticize or both.

Thank you for reading!

-Mochi Dragon


End file.
